Angry Mustang

Question
QUESTION: I have owned my mustang for 12 years, she is easily the best horse ive owned yet. except for one tick, she hates other horses! She is a dominate mare with stud like behavior, and only acts up when im not looking. While in her stall if she can see a horse even 500 ft away she will kick, bare teeth and lunge at them. This has gotten progressively worse each year, she is hurting my barn, herself and my peace of mind! Again this is only with equine.. cows ok, goats ok even sheep, dogs, cats ect, why does my mustang hate other horses? Any ideas on how to work with her? outside her stall she knows im boss but in her stall is where she is aggressive!  thank you

ANSWER: Erica -

Does she get time with those other horses.  Mustangs are awfully territorial.  New horses that come into the herd really get picked on until they find their place.  Then things go back to peace and quite.  Sometimes all it takes is turning them out with the other horses, let them settle it, and then it is over.  However if that seems too dangerous or is just not an option, there are two other things you can try.

Sometimes they just need work  Even if it is a daily walk.  Sometimes they just need time devoted to them to get their minds off the boredom of being stuck in a stall.  A little bit of consistant work can go a long way.

The other option is to seperate her entirely from being able to see any other horses.  Sometimes that is easier said than done, and in the long run it can make the situation worse.  But that is the other option.

There is no one trick to make a horse not agressive toward other horses.  The best results I have seen come with consistant work.  Work to occupy their mind, and work to expose them to other horses.  Like I said, a daily walk may really help.  A daily walk along a shared fence-line may help even more.

Best of Luck!
Michael Hockemeyer
Kicking Bear Mustangs

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank you Michael for a fast response, that is awesome. She has been my #1 barrel horse for 10 years, she is 15 now.. she is ridden everyday so its not that, She shares a pipe corral/box stall side with a gelding and doesn't hate him as much but i still ketch her kicking at him so bad she has bent the pipe rails up 4". they been side by side now for almost three years. i fear if shes free with another horse she will fight aggressively.. nor do i wish to risk the vet bills.  <lol> i liked the idea of walking her against the rail of another horses stall.. but she rarely is  mean under halter, if she is i move her out until she rests quietly near the other horse. i will try that and see if it helps, but i hope she knows im boss outside her stall/ at shows that could be very dangerous so i made sure she knew the difference, but in her stall that her place and i cant always be there! someone suggested a kick chain, i thought that was strange to do?  i love the fact you love mustangs, i have another very neglected 6 yr old that was given to me by a rescue group because she was dangerous. She was 400 lbs underweight, her BLM halter was imbedded in her nose and poll and she clearly had slash scars on her rump. shes not dangerous just scared, and worse thing is trying to convince an abused mustang to not hate humans, right not shes convinced we are all bad. ive had her for 8months, she only seems to tolerate me still. while free brushing .. her head is high, eyes wide open and waiting for the moment she can split. any suggestions on gaining her trust? ive read books in her stall, ive haltered her/ no lead yet, i can brush her while graining!  i figure the more ideas the better! :O) thanks

Answer
Erica -

Kick chains can help, but they can also cause her to get scared and kick even more.  Based on what you are saying, I might try putting a kick board on the rails.  A sheet or two of plywood can work well.  She may still kick, but the force of the blow gets spread across the plywood, and she won't get a leg tied up in one of the rails.  You can also try hanging a milk jug full of rocks, or one of those Jolly Ball toys by the corral to try to keep her occupied.  If she is good under halter, that is the important thing.  

As for your other horse...  I get a lot of horses that need retraining after a series of bad experiences.  The biggest mistake I see people making is that they treat them like they were abused.  It is something you always have to keep in mind, but I have found they benefit more by being put to work.  Start easy with free lunging.  Free lunging in a round pen is nice for an abused horse because you are not touching them in any way, yet you are still controling where they travel, how fast they go, and when they stop.  If done right, it can be a really low impact way to establish who is boss.  Sometimes abused horses show better results that way.  Give them a job - a fairly mindless, easy job - give them something they can do.  When she starts to see that the two of you can work togethor, and that you are not going to beat her - she will start trusting you.

Michael Hockemeyer
Kicking Bear Mustangs